State report: Opioid-related deaths quadrupled in Roanoke last year

Four times as many people died from opioid, heroin and cocaine overdoses in Roanoke last year as in 2016, and fentanyl was implicated in more than half of those deaths, according to preliminary figures released by the Virginia Department of Health. “Wow, that’s pretty dramatic,” Dr. John Burton, chairman of emergency medicine for Carilion Clinic, said Monday. “My impression is that we would see some plateauing or a slight increase.” Statewide, the number of fatalities rose, but at a much slower rate than in previous years. Rates for localities in the New River Valley tracked similarly to 2016, while those in the Roanoke Valley showed significant spikes in deaths. “As deaths go up, you’d expect the number of resuscitations would go up as well,” Burton said. But Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital’s emergency department did not see the same dramatic increase in overdose patients who were revived. Burton suspects the potency of fentanyl — an extremely powerful opioid that has been showing up mixed with heroin and other drugs — shortens the time to save someone. “Depending on the severity of the overdose, if they stop breathing and go into respiratory arrest, the window of time is so small, six to 10 minutes,” he said. “By the time EMS gets there, nothing can be done.” Roanoke Fire-EMS Chief David Hoback said he was not surprised by the death rates. “Sometimes we have three, four, five, six overdoses a day. It’s everywhere in our community,” he said. People are overdosing in their… [Read full story]